This invention relates in general to subsea well installations and in particular to a system for installing and retrieving a plug from a tubing hanger.
A typical subsea wellhead assembly has a high pressure wellhead housing supported in a lower pressure wellhead housing and secured to casing that extends into the well. One or more casing hangers land in the wellhead housing, the casing hanger being located at the upper end of a string of casing that extends into the well to a deeper depth. A string of tubing extends through the casing for production fluids. A Christmas or production tree mounts to the upper end of the wellhead housing for controlling the well fluid. The production tree is typically a large, heavy assembly, having a number of valves and controls mounted thereon.
One type of tree, sometimes called xe2x80x9cconventionalxe2x80x9d, has two bores through it, one of which is the production bore and the other is the tubing annulus access bore. In this type of wellhead assembly, the tubing hanger lands in the wellhead housing. The tubing hanger has two passages through it, one being the production passage and the other being an annulus passage that communicates with the tubing annulus surrounding the tubing. Access to the tubing annulus is necessary to circulate fluids down the production tubing and up through the tubing annulus, or vice versa, to either kill the well or circulate out heavy fluid during completion. After the tubing hanger is installed and before the drilling riser is removed for installation of the tree, plugs are temporarily placed in the passages of the tubing hanger. The tree has isolation tubes that stab into engagement with the passages in the tubing hanger when the tree lands on the wellhead housing. This type of tree is normally run on a completion riser that has two strings of conduit. In a dual string completion riser, one string extends from the production passage of the tree to the surface vessel, while the other extends from the tubing annulus passage in the tree to the surface vessel. It is time consuming, however to assemble and run a dual string completion riser. Also, drilling vessels may not have such a completion riser available, requiring one to be supplied on a rental basis.
In another type of tree, sometimes called xe2x80x9chorizontalxe2x80x9d tree, there is only a single bore in the tree, this being the production passage. The tree is landed before the tubing hanger is installed, then the tubing hanger is lowered and landed in the tree. The tubing hanger is lowered through the riser, which is typically a drilling riser. Access to the tubing annulus is available through choke and kill lines of the drilling riser. The tubing hanger does not have an annulus passage through it, but a bypass extends through the tree to a void space located above the tubing hanger. This void space communicates with the choke and kill lines when the blowout preventer is closed on the tubing hanger running string. In this system, the tree is run on drill pipe, thus prevents the drilling rig derrick of the floating platform from being employed on another well while the tree is being run.
In another and less common type of wellhead system, a concentric tubing hanger lands in the wellhead housing in the same manner as a conventional wellhead assembly. The tubing hanger has a production passage and an annulus passage. However, the production passage is concentric with the axis of the tubing hanger, rather than slightly offset as in conventional tubing hangers. The tree does not have vertical tubing annulus passage through it, thus a completion riser is not required. Consequently the tree may be run on a monobore riser. A tubing annulus valve is located in the tubing hanger since a plug cannot be temporarily installed and retrieved from the tubing annulus passage with this type of tree.
In the prior art conventional and concentric tubing hanger types, the tubing hanger is installed before the tree is landed on the wellhead housing. The tubing is typically run on a small diameter riser through the drilling riser and BOP. Before the drilling riser is disconnected from the wellhead housing, a plug is installed in the tubing hanger as a safety barrier. The plug is normally lowered on a wireline through the small diameter riser. Subsequently, after the tree is installed, the plug is removed through the riser that was used to install the tree.
In this invention, a lift line deployable apparatus is provided for retrieving a plug in a passage of a subsea wellhead assembly. The apparatus has a tubular housing that sealingly connects to an upper end of a subsea wellhead assembly. An axially movable stem carried in the housing for movement between a retracted position and an extended position in the passage. A retrieval member is mounted to the stem for engaging the plug while in the extended position, and retrieving the plug as the stem is moved to the retracted position.
Preferably, the mechanism for connecting the housing to the upper end of the subsea wellhead assembly is powered by an ROV. Also, the drive mechanism for the stem is preferably controlled and powered by an ROV. Further, the retrieval member preferably is hydraulically driven by the ROV.